Trust, The

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Elijah Wood

Director: Alex & Benjamin Brewer

Films that change the mood two-thirds of the way through are rarely less than disappointing (think Thunderbolt and Lightfoot): and here's another. For the most part, this is a distinctly quirky crime drama with oddball dialogue and an even further-out central character in Jim Stone (Cage), a cop who persuades his younger colleague David Waters (Wood) to investigate a mysterious locked area behind a café, with a view to robbery.

For an hour, indeed, this is almost a comic Rififi, but with the planned heist haphazard to say the least. Waters is horrified to see the photos that will 'help' them pull off the heist. 'You mean,' he gasps, 'a homeless person took these?' 'Well,' admits Stone, 'I paid him a little.'

Surveying a map of the joint laid out in the police yard, Stone observes a squiggle in a 'wall'. "Oh,' says Waters. 'A bee flew in my face.'

So far, so funny, in its off-the-wall way. But then the tone changes and turns our expectations on their heads. And not in a good way. It becomes a conventionally violent thriller with an ending that intentionally leaves us with nothing.

Former comic icon Jerry Lewis bewilderingly gets star billing alongside Cage and Wood on the strength of one tiny cameo. The French, who admire his work, might have described the appearance as 'avec le participation minuscule'!